News
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Latest News
Last week representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Justin Amash (R-MI) proposed amending HR-4310, (National Defense Authorization Act) to end indefinite detention of terrorism suspects and require due process for those suspected of crimes. The amendment would have ensured that the following due process rules are followed.
- Military detention. Prohibits transfer to military custody for detention of any person seized or detained in the United States under the Legislation.
- Military trials. Prohibits military trial of any person detained in the United States under the legislation.
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- Written by: Webmaster
- Category: Policy News
On Monday a bill to decriminalize possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana unanimously passed a NJ Assembly Committee. Among those to testify was Mick Erickson, our Libertarian Candidate for Congress in the 10th district.
From our friends at the Marijuana Policy Project:
In exciting news, a New Jersey Assembly Committee voted 7-0 yesterday to approve Assembly Bill 1465, a bill that would reduce penalties for marijuana possession. The full Assembly will vote on this sensible bill on Thursday.
Please click here to contact your assemblymembers in support of this proposal today!
Assembly Bill 1465 would make possession of one-half ounce, or 15 grams, of marijuana a summary offense similar to a parking ticket. Currently, those caught with small amounts of marijuana face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Thanks to CATO's Police Misconduct Reporting Project for pointing me to this story.
A former Jersey City man who accused a police officer of excessive force in 2005 is set to receive $185,000 in a legal settlement that the City Council is scheduled to approve this week.
Samy Gattas sued the city, the Police Department, Police Chief Tom Comey, and several officers in federal court, accusing them of violating his civil rights during a 2005 incident in which he was handcuffed and charged with a disorderly persons offense after a verbal dispute with a police officer.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I recently submitted an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request for two months worth of Upper Freehold Township Committee meeting minutes as both an effort to learn what is going on in my town and to test my town's adherence to the OPRA law. As a result of my request and findings I wrote a letter to the Township pointing out deficiencies and recommending changes to their process. I've uploaded copies of my correspondence and the responses to http://njlp.org/uploads/UFTOPRARequest.pdf.
I found the township to be deficient in three main areas.
Tardy and Incomplete Responses To OPRA Request
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
The Borough of Englewood Cliffs (Bergen County) wishes for me to pay up to $339.79 for the audio recording of a December 8, 2010 Borough Council meeting. The Borough posits that the meeting was recorded on audio tape and that since the Borough now uses CD technology, it needs to use a private vendor, at $135 per hour, to duplicate the 2.5 hour meeting recording.
My OPRA request, the Borough's response and my reply to that response are on-line here.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
On May 8th, Allentown Borough enacted a loitering ordinance.
It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of 18 years to loiter, idle, wander, stroll or play in or upon or to remaining in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, public places and public buildings, places of amusement and entertainment, church parking lots, places of business carried on for profit to which the public is invited, vacant lots or other public places, either on foot or in any vehicle within the confines of the Borough on every day of the week, provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply to a minor when accompanied by his parent, guardian or other adult person having custody, care and control of the minor, or in the event the minor is upon an emergency errant or legitimate business directed or consented to by his parent, guardian or other adult person having care and custody of the minor.
The New Jersey Libertarian Party opposes such laws on the grounds that they violate a citizen's right to peacefully assemble. In addition, in the state of NJ, such laws have been deemed illegal by the courts.
I've sent a letter to the Borough Council pointing out the illegality of their ordinance. The letter was also sent to the Borough Attorney.
In the event that Allentown Borough does not repeal this law, I wll personally assist anyone charged with this in fighting this violation of the civil liberties of our youth.
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- Written by: Eric Hafner
- Category: Latest News
UPDATE: John Paff wrote a letter to the Presiding Judge of the Monmouth County Municipal Courts concerning this matter.
A municipal Judge in Middletown Township, NJ (Monmouth County) is renting his law office from the Municipal Prosecutor - a conflict of interest that means any case they have ever handled is now questionable. This story reeks of New Jersey political corruption and cronyism.
While facing a prosecution in Middletown Township Municipal Court relating to my usage of Medical Marijuana (that my doctor in California recommends I use in the treatment of my serious illness - but that's a separate issue entirely) I have become aware of some facts regarding the operation of the court that draws into serious question whether or not any defendant can receive a fair trial in Middletown Township.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
The recent stories regarding Anna Gristina and Catherine Scalia have once again brought up the issue of prostitution in the Empire State to the forefront. These women feel that they have done nothing wrong and they also feel that they have a right to engage in this activity, regardless of what others may think. While I personally find the thought of any adult man or woman selling his or her body for the purposes of sex disgusting and abominable, I also feel that these women should not be prosecuted and that the practice of prostitution should be decriminalized.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
Is it at least an appearance of impropriety for a Township administrator to have his home's roof replaced by the same contractor who was awarded a construction contract by the Township? My letter to Fairfield Township (Cumberland County) Mayor Michael Sharp and the Township Committee, which is referenced in the article below, is on-line at http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2012/2012130Yr//Fairfield.pdf
Letter raises possible accusations of 'impropriety' against former Fairfield Township administrator Joe Veight
Published: Tuesday, May 08, 2012By Jason Laday/The News of Cumberland
FAIRFIELD TWP. — A statewide watchdog group on Tuesday released a letter to the township committee regarding what it describes as possible impropriety on part of former Fairfield administrator and clerk Joe Veight.
Written by John Paff, of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project, the letter states that Veight had contracted a local firm for repairs at his Upper Deerfield home a month before that same company was awarded a $14,052 contract with the township.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
After receiving my notice of an intended lawsuit, the Downe Township (Cumberland County) Committee passed a May 7, 2012 resolution promising to make draft copies of both its public meeting minutes and the nonexempt portions of its nonpublic (closed or executive) meeting minutes publicly available "the sooner to occur of thirty (30) days after a meeting or prior to the next scheduled meeting, whichever occurs first." My threatened lawsuit, Committee resolution and cover letters are on-line here.
Downe Township is a rural township of about 1,700 inhabitants that borders the Delaware Bay. Some towns, due to their small size, claim that they don't have the staff or resources to keep their minutes up to date. The fact that Downe is able to promise to make both its open and closed minutes publicly available prior to the next meeting challenges the "we're too small" excuse.
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- Written by: Alex Pugliese
- Category: Selected Blogs
There was once a time in America when we all praised the open mind. That we praised hearing open, honest and thoughtful debate on all sides of an argument; that we looked at all information, data and evidence; that we listened and read openly what people had said and wrote; that we would test our hypothesis over and over again always with the open mind and the come to our own conclusions.
Since the late 1960s and early 70s, most Americans have abandoned all that considering it all passé. They replaced it with their own prejudices, ideology and their own beliefs. In short, since that time, there has been a deliberate closing of the American mind.
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- Written by: John Paff
- Category: Open Government Advocacy Project
I have threatened to sue the Clinton Township (Hunterdon County) Board of Education for violating the Open Public Meetings Act in a way that is new to me - by passing a verbal, closed session motion/resolution during a public meeting that differs substantially from the version of the motion/resolution that is recorded in the meeting's minutes.
By comparing the audio of the Board's meetings with the written minutes, I have found several examples where the Board passed a simple motion, in the nature of "I move that we go into executive session," but then recorded a much more verbose version of the motion in the meeting minutes. One of the main purposes of N.J.S.A. 10:4-13, which requires that public body pass a resolution in public before going into executive or closed session, is to inform the members of the public in attendance of nature of the matters that the body is going to privately discuss. For a public body to simply say that it's going into executive session and then include the details of what topics were privately discussed in the meeting's minutes--which won't be publicly available until weeks later--works against that purpose.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
- Category: Police Accountability Project
Thanks to CATO's Police Misconduct Reporting Project for pointing me to this story.
A Passaic County police officer sent a 12-year-old girl explicit photos of himself in uniform and tried to set up a sexual encounter with her, days after meeting the girl while assisting her family in an unrelated police matter, authorities said today. Woodland Park Police Officer Steven Vigorito Jr. pleaded not guilty in Superior Court in Paterson to charges ranging from attempted aggravated sexual assault to luring and enticing a child
Subcategories
NJ Libertarian Blog
Imported from NJ Libertarian News from the published feed
Videos
This is a page of various videos that we have either created or found interesting. Be sure to check out and follow our YouTube page.
Open Government Advocacy Project
The Open Government Advocacy Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels of government. Articles posted here are a subset of the work of the committee. For more information visit the Open Government Advocacy Project blog.
If you would like to demand accountability and ensure that your local governing body or school board adheres to the Open Public Records Act we can help you request information from them. Contact John Paff, the project chair here.
Insight New Jersey
NJ government is huge and complex. Private industry is shrinking while the size and cost of government bureacracy continues to grow. The articles posted here provide a guide of the NJ State Government and can be used by citizens and candidates for office to evaluate what departments can be reduced drastically in size.
We'll start with just some of the departments and provide a breakdown on what they do (or purport to do), how many employees they have and how big their budget is.
Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project
The New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project (“the Project”) seeks to get New Jersey municipalities to repeal loitering ordinances that should have been -- but were not -- repealed when the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice was enacted in 1979. The Project has successfully had loitering ordinances repealed in over 30 towns. For a summary listing of all the towns see Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project page.
Police Accountability Project
The Police Accountability Project is a committee of the NJ Libertarian Party. Its goal is to search out cases of police misconduct, file former Internal Affairs (IA) complaints when appropriate, and to publicize violations of rules and laws by the police. There may be other stories posted on the NJLP Police Internal Affairs Complaint Blog page.
If you would like to help or know of a case we should be looking at, contact the committee at
Legislative Affairs Committee
The Legislative Affairs Committee was created to allow a select core of Volunteers to take action on legislation and policies which directly affects the people of New Jersey.
[INTRO VIDEO - HOSTED ON NJLP STATE YOUTUBE AND EMBEDED HERE]
Staff
Legislative Director and Committee Chair
Volunteers: